Technologies for Networked Enabled Operations

Current point-to-point data links will not scale to support future integration of surveillance, security, and globally-distributed air traffic data, and already hinders efficiency and capacity. While the FAA and industry focus on a transition to initial system-wide information management (SWIM) capabilities, this paper describes a set of initial studies of NAS network-enabled operations technology gaps targeted for maturity in later SWIM spirals (201 5-2020 timeframe)

Identifying and Detecting Attacks in Industrial Control Systems

The integrity of industrial control systems (ICS) found in utilities, oil and natural gas pipelines, manufacturing plants and transportation is critical to national wellbeing and security. Such systems depend on hundreds of field devices to manage and monitor a physical process. Previously, these devices were specific to ICS but they are now being replaced by general purpose computing technologies and, increasingly, these are being augmented with Internet of Things (IoT) nodes. Whilst there are benefits to this approach in terms of cost and flexibility, it has attracted a wider community of adversaries. These include those with significant domain knowledge, such as those responsible for attacks on Iran’s Nuclear Facilities, a Steel Mill in Germany, and Ukraine’s power grid; however, non specialist attackers are becoming increasingly interested in the physical damage it is possible to cause. At the same time, the approach increases the number and range of vulnerabilities to which ICS are subject; regrettably, conventional techniques for analysing such a large attack space are inadequate, a cause of major national concern. In this thesis we introduce a generalisable approach based on evolutionary multiobjective algorithms to assist in identifying vulnerabilities in complex heterogeneous ICS systems. This is both challenging and an area that is currently lacking research. Our approach has been to review the security of currently deployed ICS systems, and then to make use of an internationally recognised ICS simulation testbed for experiments, assuming that the attacking community largely lack specific ICS knowledge. Using the simulator, we identified vulnerabilities in individual components and then made use of these to generate attacks. A defence against these attacks in the form of novel intrusion detection systems were developed, based on a range of machine learning models. Finally, this was further subject to attacks created using the evolutionary multiobjective algorithms, demonstrating, for the first time, the feasibility of creating sophisticated attacks against a well-protected adversary using automated mechanisms

Air Force Institute of Technology Research Report 2004

This report summarizes the research activities of the Air Force Institute of Technology’s Graduate School of Engineering and Management. It describes research interests and faculty expertise; lists student theses/dissertations; identifies research sponsors and contributions; and outlines the procedures for contacting the school. Included in the report are: faculty publications, conference presentations, consultations, and funded research projects. Research was conducted in the areas of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Electro-Optics, Computer Engineering and Computer Science, Systems and Engineering Management, Operational Sciences, and Engineering Physics

Aerospace Communications at the NASA Glenn Research Center

The Communications Division at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland Ohio has as its charter to provide NASA and the Nation with our expertise and services in innovative communications technologies that address future missions in Aerospace Technology, Spaceflight, Space Science, Earth Science, Life Science and Exploration

The Software Continuum Concept: Towards a Biologically Inspired Model for Robust E-Business Software Automation

This paper introduces a new concept, the software continuum concept based on the observation that exists a general parallelism between the software continuum from bits to business/Internet ecosystems and the natural continuum from particles to ecosystems. The general parallelism suggests that homeomorphisms may be identified and therefore some concepts, processes, and/or mechanisms in one continuum can be investigated for application in the other continuum. We argue that the homeomorphisms give rise to a biologically-inspired architectural framework for addressing robust control, robust intelligence, and robust autonomy issues in e-business software and other business-IT integration challenges. As application, we examine the mapping of a major enterprise-level architecture framework to the biologically-inspired framework. Design considerations for robust intelligence and autonomy in large-scale software automation and some major systemic features for flexible business-IT integration are also discussed

NASA's Earth Science Data Systems

NASA's Earth Science Data Systems (ESDS) Program has evolved over the last two decades, and currently has several core and community components. Core components provide the basic operational capabilities to process, archive, manage and distribute data from NASA missions. Community components provide a path for peer-reviewed research in Earth Science Informatics to feed into the evolution of the core components. The Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) is a core component consisting of twelve Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) and eight Science Investigator-led Processing Systems spread across the U.S. The presentation covers how the ESDS Program continues to evolve and benefits from as well as contributes to advances in Earth Science Informatics

Test-driven simulation modelling:a case study using agent-based maritime search-operation simulation

Model verification and validation (V&V) is one of the most important activities in simulation modelling. Model validation is especially challenging for agent-based simulation (ABS). Techniques that can help to improve V&V in simulation modelling are needed. This paper proposes a V&V technique called Test-Driven Simulation Modelling (TDSM) which applies techniques from Test-Driven Development in software engineering to simulation modelling. The main principle in TDSM is that a unit test for a simulation model has to be specified before the simulation model is implemented. Hence, TDSM explicitly embeds V&V in simulation modelling. We use a case study in maritime search operations to demonstrate how TDSM can be used in practice. Maritime search operations (and search operations in general) are one of the classic applications of Operational Research (OR). Hence, we can use analytical models from the vast search theory literature for unit tests in TDSM. The results show that TDSM is a useful technique in the verification and validation of simulation models, especially ABS models. This paper also shows that ABS can offer an alternative modelling approach in the analysis of maritime search operations